How much money is there in the world?

A not so serious question – and a computational answer. The amount of banknotes is increasing all over the world. The love of cash is obviously as great as never before. Particularly noteworthy: six currencies that are more valuable than others.

Again and again the end of cash is proclaimed. In fact, the opposite is true. The number of euro banknotes has been growing recently. Almost 20 billion notes are currently in circulation. Upon the introduction of euro notes in 2002 it was just 7.8 billion.
Last year alone, some 1.3 billion notes were added.

This means that in theory, 58 banknotes are available for every citizen of the euro zone.
In the US, there are clearly more – purely by calculation, 109 dollar notes! In Japan, there are even 126 yen banknotes. But most banknotes are not in circulation. For daily payment traffic – this is what the Bundesbank basis it on – only about 10 percent of this cash is used. The larger part serves to preserve value – especially in non-euro countries. The Bundesbank estimates that this represents 50 per cent of the euro notes. This proportion will be even greater for the US dollar, which is regarded as the world’s leading currency and is also used as a parallel currency in many countries.

The weakest currencies are constantly losing value through inflation.
The most extreme is currently in Iran, where one receives around 36,000 rial for one euro. The government in Tehran is about to rename the currency to toman and delete a zero. From then on, the weakest currency in the world will be in Vietnam, where a euro equals about 25,200 dong.

On the other hand, the currencies in some Arab countries have a particularly high nominal value. In Kuwait, for example, a dinar costs around three euros, followed by Bahrain, Oman and Jordan. Only two other currencies are more valuable than the euro: the pound sterling and the Cayman dollar. But, of course, such comparisons say nothing about purchasing power and stability.

Just as important as value and stability is the counterfeiting security of a currency.
This is especially high for the euro. Last year, some 700,000 counterfeit euro notes were secured. However, based on the total number of banknotes that is just 0.000034 percent. The probability of receiving a counterfeit note is therefore 1 : 30,000. Thus, paying with cash remains safe for the time being, and likely will not be faced with extinction for a long time.